Rock Cycle
Key Stage 3
Meaning
The Rock Cycle is a process that recycles rocks on the Earth's Crust.
About the Rock Cycle
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| A diagram showing different stages of the Rock Cycle. |
The Rock Cycle has several stages:
- Weathering - Rocks are broken down by the environment.
- Erosion - Wearing away rocks into smaller pieces.
- Transport - Small pieces of rock are moved by rivers, glaciers and the wind.
- Deposition - When water and the wind slow down or when glaciers melt the small pieces of rock fall to the ground.
- Sedimentation - Layers of sediment (small pieces of rock) build up on lake beds and sea beds.
- Compaction - So many layers build up that the pressure squeezes all the water out.
- Cementation - Mineral salts that were dissolved in the water fall out of solution and bind the sediment together.
If the rocks get buried deep enough:
- Heat and Pressure - The rock is either changed by the heat and pressure into a Metamorphic rock or the rock is melted to become magma.
- Uplift - Pressure from underneath the rock causes it to rise to the surface.
- Volcanoes - The molten rock comes out of volcanoes as lava before it freezes to become an Igneous rock.